As we all know, one of the new Labour Government’s plans is to build 1.5 million new homes in five years. According to the Big Issue that’s down to just six companies to deliver.
That’s 821 per day of the five years of the Government’s life. Per day. Or 34 per hour. The way things are looking 34 a week would be a miracle.
The BBC has a story about the housing estate from hell. Bassingbourn Fields, Fordham, Cambridgeshire, is a development of 100 new-build homes, but it’s riven with problems:
For some in this new build community, the name of the developer – Bellway – has become a dirty word.
“We call it Hellway,” one homeowner tells me, after what residents describe as more than two years of chaos and no end of snags – the industry term for defects.
Bellway says it is working on resolving outstanding issues. So what has gone wrong?
“When you buy a new-build you expect some snags – a few cracks here and there,” says Jon Trevenna, 70, who moved into his house in early 2022, hoping for an easy retirement and more time with his grandchildren.
“You don’t expect three major leaks in your bathroom, a downstairs radiator to be plumbed into the upstairs and vice versa, the fence between you and your neighbour to look like a rollercoaster,” he adds.
“There were so many problems, most of the small stuff we had to fix ourselves.”
At first glance, Bassingbourn Fields looks like a textbook modern development, surrounded by countryside.
But the residents we’ve spoken to tell a very different story.
A young woman, who didn’t want to be identified, tells me that within weeks of moving in, the entire staircase collapsed and her husband fell into the understairs cupboard.
“The contractor who came to fix it said there was only one screw in each step. There should have been 14,” she says.
“We’ll leave as soon as we can – too many bad memories here.”